Chapter Fifty-Nine

"Peter Pan?" Snow repeated.

Regina rolled her eyes, she honestly didn't understand why she had to be so closely associated with such morons, but she managed to hold back a quip.

"He's after Henry," she sighed and looked over at Emma who was helping David go through the CCTV footage from the camera trained on the holding cell. She had a deep set frown as they sped through the hours of Neal just sitting there, clearly she wasn't fond of having to stare at the man who had caused her such pain. But Regina was also aware that there was another issue at play here and she was determined to talk about it once they had some privacy.

"You let him get away?" Snow asked bringing Regina out of her reverie.

With a frustrated huff, she turned and looked at her former step-daughter, "I was more focused on protecting my son rather than keeping a psychotic man-child in my home."

The princess nodded in understanding, she had thought that everything had finally settled down after the months of issues. Granted, Emma being in a wheelchair wasn't exactly what she had imagined when she thought about their future as a family, but it also didn't change that much in her view. As long as her daughter was happy she was happy, she had already seen what happened when a mother didn't support their child, even if Regina and Cora were slowly building a relationship.

Now, there was some kind of new villain.

Though Peter Pan was certainly the last person that she expected to be threatening her happiness, she knew that with everyone now here to protect Henry, the little demon boy stood no chance, it was just a matter of finding out what exactly he wanted.

"Regina…" Emma called in surprisingly panicked voice.

The brunette walked straight over and placed a hand on her shoulder, the blonde visibly relaxed and her girlfriend said, "what is it dear?"

She reversed the video and Regina watched as Peter Pan ripped out Neal's heart and she instantly closed her eyes with a sigh.

She couldn't say that she was sad about what she had just witnessed, but the mixed emotions on Emma's face told her that she probably shouldn't be celebrating the man's death. Even if she had, herself, planned some inventive ways to end his life a few times.

Leaning closer, she whispered, "are you okay?"

She just received a nod in reply, but she somehow felt more like a promise to talk more about it later.

The blonde leaned closer to the screen and watch Neal's lips move, she had some limited knowledge of lip-reading, but she just about managed to decipher her first love's last words, "'you won't be able to get Henry's heart, Regina and Emma will protect him,'" she said in a defeated voice, falling back against her chair.

"He wants Henry's heart?" David asked with a furrowed brow, "why?"

Both Snow and Charming looked at the other pair expectantly and Regina rolled her eyes, "Peter Pan didn't make an appearance in our future."

The prince let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Is he at least safe for now?"

"No Charming, I thought I would just abandon my son while we played detective," the brunette replied sardonically.

He narrowed his eyes and Emma cut in before he could try for a counter, "he's at the diner with Ruby and Graham and a protection spell preventing Pan from entering."

The blonde man nodded and turned back to the computer to see if there were any more clues.

There was silence for a few moments until Regina leaned down and whispered to Emma, "we need to talk."

At any other time, the blonde would have laughed at what those choice of words would have made her think of, but she wasn't in the mood and she was almost certain that she would know if she did something stupid enough for Regina to break up with her.

A few moments later, Emma wheeled herself into her office and then turned to look at Regina expectantly.

The brunette bit her lip and considered her words, she had no idea how to delicately broach the subject, so she just went for it, "I know that you're not truly upset about Neal's death."

Emma narrowed her eyes and asked, "of course I am upset, but…"

Regina held up her hand and supplied, "you're upset that he's gone, but you have already mourned for the man you loved when he left you in prison. In this moment there is something else bothering you."

The blonde considered denying it, but it was rather nice to have someone who knew her so well, "I couldn't protect Henry."

Regina's expression softened and she walked over to her girlfriend, once again placing her hand on the woman's shoulder, "Henry is fine."

"And what if David hadn't found out that Neal was free? You wouldn't have shown up and I wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop him."

"Then we would have found him," Regina replied.

Emma looked at her lap for a moment and then finally asked the question that had been weighing on her mind, "isn't there a spell that could fix me?"

Regina winced slightly at her choice of words and fell into the chair that was just behind her, reaching forward, she lifted her chin with her fingers and looked straight into her eyes.

"I'm afraid that this kind of injury is too complex for magical healing techniques, but Emma, there is nothing to fix," she said softly.

Emma furrowed her brow with a hint of anger present in her eyes and she said, "I can't walk, how is that normal?"

"Because you are still the same infuriating woman who came into my town and managed to stay despite every obstacle. You have broken the Dark Curse in two timelines, saved my mother and got me to fall for you twice, do you honestly think the fact that you are in a wheelchair changes anything you have ever done."

The blonde thought about this for a moment, and finally a small smile started to tug at the corner of her mouth, "You have a point, but…will you teach me to be better with magic?"

"I thought you would never ask," Regina chuckled and was about to lean in for a kiss, before a small yelp brought her to her feet quickly.

With lightning speed, she and Emma left the office to find Snow sitting in Charming's chair with a little layer of sweat on her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked worriedly, quickly wheeling over to her mother.

Her mother nodded unconvincingly and said quickly, "just under the weather, it's nothing."

Emma narrowed her eyes and instantly said, "You're lying."

Snow looked at her reluctantly and it became even clearer that she was hiding something, "it's fine, I'm just stressed…over Henry," it wasn't a complete lie, but it still set off Emma's senses all the same.

"Snow…" David said warningly, he had personally been against keeping this a secret for as long as they had, but Snow was insistent that she didn't want to pile anything else onto Emma's plate.

She looked at him pleadingly, but she somehow knew that she couldn't lie, especially if she was going to get the help she needed in this moment, after all, Emma wouldn't believe that she was going to see Whale just because she was 'feeling under the weather'.

"I…I…"

The blonde watched her hand go to her stomach and her eyebrows instantly shot up, "you're pregnant?" she asked in a hollow voice.

A/N Hope you enjoyed, reviews would be much appreciated XD

Some of you may be happy to know that I finally have a chapter plan for this fic, so the last chapter will be chapter 65 encase anyone was wondering. The Pan arc is going to be quite short so let me know whether you feel that anything is too rushed.